Rolling mill



L. IVERSEN ROLLING MILL Filed-Sen 23, 1920 June 23, 1925. 1,543,108

Z INVENTOA I WITNESS Patented June 23, 1925.

UNITED STATES I 1,543,108 PATENT OFFICE.

LORENZ IVERSEN,'OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO MESTA MACHINII COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLING MILL.

Application filed September 23, 1920. Serial No. 412,150.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZ IVERSEN, a citizen. of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have made a new and useful Improvement in Rolling Mills, of which the following is a specification. 1

My invention relates to rolling mills and consists in a novel driving means for a balanced roll and in a mill arrangement which makes the driving means practical.

My invention is especially adapted for use in a mill arrangement wherein roughing and finishing mills are located adjacent each other and the roughing mill is operated as a balanced mill while the finishing mills are operated as jump mills. The main object of my invention is to provide a s1mple, efficient drive for the balanced roll of the roughing mill. I, do this by operating it from the rolls of the adjacent finishing mill or mills. An additional object is to provide a drive for the balanced roll which functions when the mill in which that roll is located is empty and automatically ceases to'function when the mill is working. I accomplish this by providing an adjustable, frictional drive for the balanced roll.

This driving scheme is advantageous as rotation of the balanced roll, when the mill is empty, facilitates the insertion of a bar or pack, while thereafter the roll is free to rotate as induced by the frictional drive of the positively driven roll and the pack. This avoids any strains due to a positive acceleration or retardation of the pack travel because the travel of the balanced roll differs from that of the lower roll.

The accompanying drawing is a front elevation of three mills arranged according to my preferred location with parts of the machinery sectioned .to better illustrate its construction.

The drawing illustrates a roughing mill A and two finishing mills B and C. The three mills are abreast of each other, the roughing mill A being placed between the two finishing mills. The lower rolls 1, 2 and 3 respectively of the three mills are in substantial axial alinement, connected by suitable couplings l and positively driven by a suitable motor (not shown) at either side of the series of mills.

The upper roll 5 of roughing mill A may be supported against its downwardly facing hearing by any customary means, the counterbalance weights 6 indicated being a commonarrangement. Mills B and .C are preferably-operated as jump mills, as their use for finishing passes produces relatively small vertical displacement of their upper 1 rolls 7 and 8 when a pack is introduced or withdrawn which enables them" to operate as jump mills without the destructive wear on bearings and rolls resulting from a similar operation of the roughing mill.

In order to rotate roll 5 when mill A is empty, I provide it with driving connections from rolls 7 and 8 of the adjacent mills. Each of these connections includes dogs 9 and 10, detachably mounted on the necks of their respective rolls. Each dog is provided with a portion of a driving shaft 11 or 12 non-rotatively assembled therewith but axially pivotal in any plane. shafts 11 and 12 are alined and connected by a coupling 13.

Coupling 13 is of two or more pieces which frictionally engage each other and whose frictional contact is preferably adjustable by means of suitable packing and bolts or otherwise. This frictional engagement should be sufiicient to drive roll 5 from either of rolls 7 or 8 when mill A is empty, and insufficient to drive or substantially brake roll 5 when mill A is working. This is not diflicult of obtaining as roll 5 may be rotated easily when not working and is rotated by tremendous friction between it, the pack, and roll 1 when the mill is working.

While my preferred construction, shown, involves a set of three mills abreast of each other, my invention may be embodied in a set of two mills only. It is un-- likely in actual practice that roll 5 of the roughing mill would be connected up with the top roll of more than one of the finishing mills, even though the mill arrangement was such that there would be a finishin mill on each side. of the rougher, as the friction of the weight of the top roll of one finisher would be amply suflicient at all times to drive roll 5 of the roughing mill. The top roll of either finishing mill is driven all the time whether a pack is between the rolls or not. When a pack is between the rolls, it is driven by tremendous power; when there is nothing between the rolls, it is driven by friction through its own weight resting on Adjacent top of the bottom roll, which friction drive is more than suflicient to drive roll 5 when em ty.

I my number of mills can be located laterally adjacent to each other, the only requirement is that there is one finishing mill adjacent to each roughing mill for driving the top roll of the rougher.

It may not be necessary in all cases to provide a frictional connection between the finisher and the rougher, as in cases where all rolls are kept the same diameter and ro tate at the same speed relatively, a solid positive connection could be provided between the two rolls. This construction makes it possible to drive the top roll of a roughing mill from the top roll of a finishing mill, as the to roll of the finishing mill will always be driven either by friction between top and bottom roll, due to its own weight resting on the bottom roll, or by the force of the pack between the rolls when working. This construction also provides a connection between the two top rolls which will provide a certain amount of slippage which may be necessary when both the finishing and the roughing mills are working at the same time, and the force from the pack would tend to drive the top roll of the finisher at a different speed from the top roll of the rougher, or vice versa.

I claim 1. In combination, a rolling mill having a balanced roll, a second mill adjacent said first mentioned mill and having a driven roll, a connection between said rolls including a friction clutch, said clutch being adapted to hold said rolls against relative v rotation when said first mentioned mill is empty and to cease to so function when said first mentioned mill is working.

2. In combination, a rolling mill including a driving roll and a second roll co-opcrating therewith but spaced therefrom, a jump'mill located adjacent said first mill and including a driving roll and a jump roll, and an operative connection between the jump roll and the second roll of the first-mentioned mill, which renders the jump roll efi'ect'ive as a driving agent for said second roll when the first mill is empty but which is ineffective as a driving connection when the first mill is workin 3. In combination, a rolling mill, including adriving roll, a balanced roll, a jump mill located adjacent said first mill and including av driving roll and a jump roll, an operative connection between the driving rolls of said mills, and a universal driving connection between said balanced roll and said jump roll, including a friction clutch, adapted to render the jump roll effective as the driving agent of said balanced roll when said first mill is empty, but which is adapted to render the jump roll ineffective as a driving agent when said first mill is working.

11 testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 10 day of September, 1920. I

LORENZ IVERSEN. 

